by Donna Altman
“Dee, it’s time for a truce.” I was direct with her. She kept her back to me. I reached my hand in her direction, and I touched her shoulder. She tensed and tried to pull away from me. I heard the thoughts Ellie lashed at her. Then her tension relaxed.
“Daught, thank you for your concern, but I’m alright.” Dee informed me. I circled around to see her face. She looked up at me with a bewildered look.
“Dee, I love your sister, and I love your grandparents. Please give me a chance.” I begged. I could see from behind me that all eyes were on us. I leaned close and whispered, even though I knew they could hear my thoughts.
“Hey, we could probably be good friends. Besides you don’t smell that great either.” I chucked. Her face looked up at me again, and I could detect a smile then a slight giggle. She turned away again and started to walk in the direction of her hut. Then she stopped and turned back to me. She had a matter of fact look on her face.
“Truce vamp, but just one thing, can you start wearing some type of cologne?” She smiled and then started laughing. I raised my arm and sniffed under my armpits. Dee and Ellie were laughing as well as Ultress and Elizabeth. We were making progress. It was a truce, one with insults, but one that would prove to be the beginning of Dee’s and my friendship.
“What’s she talking about? Do I stink?” I smiled looking in disbelief and then winked at Ellie. She returned my smile. We headed for our hut for a long night of holding each other and cherishing what returned to us.
Chapter Twenty-Five
PREFECTING
Ellie and I worked over the next few days trying to perfect my newfound abilities. Neither of us realized the extent of what had transferred to me during my change. Not only could I read the thoughts of others, see things that were behind me, make objects I thought about appear, and see what someone would be doing in the future, but I also found I had more abilities. I could stop objects in mid-air and thrust them in any direction I wanted as well as pull objects out of another’s hands without ever touching them.
I worked day and night to make sure I could fix my attention on an object and teleport it where I wanted it to land. The things Ellie transferred to me amazed her. She never realized she had these abilities either, but as she told me, some things are stronger in one than in others. Her stronger abilities towered over these so she could not make these abilities work as well. Her stronger powers came second nature to her, but mine were new to me so it amazed me to be able to do them. She sat and watched in awe of the new things I could do and laughed at my excitement.
We sat most of the day by the water and reminisced over the times we shared prior to her leaving me. We talked about the things we had done and the places we had been during our separation. It was strange that many times we were not far from each other. At times, we were in the same country and other times just a few blocks away in the same city. Fate seemed be trying to bring us back together for many decades, but this was only to be when the gods made sure the timing was perfect.
I never thought I could love Ellie more than I already did, but I loved her more and more every minute we spend together. I learned more about her each day. Her belief in mortals fascinated me. Most immortals cared less about the mere things humans could do, but Ellie thought them fascinating. Listening to her was like listening to a child tells about a new toy. I saw the gleam in her eyes when she talked about humans, and how their ways were phenomenal.
As we sat and talked, I remember the gift I gave her so long ago and recently retrieved. It was time for it to find its rightful place. I pulled out the ring that I made appear the first night Elizabeth encouraged me to try to use these powers I didn’t realize I had. When Ellie saw the ring, she smiled and took it from my hand. Her face glowed with excitement.
“I thought it was gone forever.” She said as she looked into my eyes. The glow on her face told me she loved me.
“Everything about us is coming back, Ellie.” I told her as I kissed her. I took the ring from her and placed it back on her hand where it belonged.
“Daught, I never want to be without you. I made Elizabeth promise she would extinguish me if we lose this war, and I have to destroy you.” She looked down at the ground. I saw her sadness.
“Ellie, that’s not going to happen,” I replied to her. I pulled her next to me and held her tight. I felt the pain race through her thoughts as I touched her face and brought it to look in my direction. “But if it does, please know I have never been as happy as I’ve been during the time I’ve had with you.” She again looked away from me. I knew she needed some time. Ellie didn’t like anyone including me to see her weak.
I pulled her close, and we lay on the beach holding each other in silence as we watched the sea come and kiss the shore then pull away again. I too never wanted to know an existence without Ellie. I walked the earth for too many years without her, and this was something I would never do again.
Many hours passed as the sun laid its sleepy head, and the moon began to stretch and rise again. Ellie and I lay with each other on the shore by the water as we enjoyed holding each other tight and knowing we loved each other. As the moon rose, we swam in the warm waters. The low light of the stars glowed on our alabaster skin. I admired her beauty and gave thanks to the Gods of the Universe for bringing her home to me. The nights passed quickly, too quickly because we knew this doom of war was nearing.
The next morning the sun began to rise and the warmth of its rays filled the air. I looked up and saw Dee coming down to the shore.
“Listen you two, could you tone down the volume a bit. Remember you aren’t the only ones that don’t need to sleep.” She laughed. Ellie looked at her and rolled her eyes.
“Dee,” I spoke. “I might be able to find you a nice young vampire boyfriend if you’d like.” I squinted my eyes and shielded them with my hand as I looked up at her. She hissed at me playfully, which was a change from her reaction to me just a few days ago. We had finally made amends and this made Ellie happy. I laughed at her reaction to my offer. I knew Dee would never accept a hybrid for a mate.
“I don’t think I need your help, vamp boy.” She laughed as the wind blew her long black hair. She walked closer to the shoreline and picked up a shell still laughing while she admired it.
“I don’t know I’ve heard, once you go vamp, you never recant.” We laughed. Ellie hit me, and Dee threw the shell in my direction. I held my hand out. It stopped and hung in mid-air. It dangled as if it were hanging from a rope that wasn’t there. I waved my hand, and the shell flew across the air into the water. Ellie was pleased. Dee was amazed as she sat down on the blanket beside us.
“Alright vamp boy, you’re improving your reaction time.” Dee smiled and clapped her hands.
Since our truce, we became more like friends that playfully lashed demeaning comments at each other. I think this was Dee’s way of letting me know she approved of her sister's choice.
“Can you see what the Lords are up to?” Dee asked. She looked at Ellie to make sure it was all right with her. She knew talking about them upset her. She didn’t like dwelling on our upcoming battle. Ellie smiled and shook her head letting me know it was ok with her.
“I don’t know I’ll try.” I told her as I looked in the distant. I tried to concentrate.
Finding another’s thought was one of my abilities I found harder to control. The thoughts and visions came and went. They were like fuzzy pictures that came in and out of focus. I closed my eyes and thought of the Lords. The picture was blurry, but I made out the images. I saw them again at the same table they sat at before. Ellie explained this was the table in the study. It belonged to Ultress. Many of his belongings remained in the castle the Lords claimed after Ultress and Elizabeth were annihilated.
This vision seemed to be one that was not going to happen, but had already happened. This was something I hadn't realized I could do, but controlling these visions was hard. I didn’t see Suzi. She wasn’t there. The Lords were arguing. The olde
st of the three seemed to be worried about something. I couldn’t focus in on the conversation. The anger blocked my visions. I could see they were looking at something on the table, but I couldn’t make out the image. The middle one banged his hand on the table to show his irritation. There was a female present, but she wasn’t Suzi. She yelled at the three brothers. Her tone angered the three, but she laughed at their anger. Who was this female that dared to cross these three beings of such power? I wondered.
Ellie and Dee saw my thoughts. With Suzie’s absence, they knew she had been extinguished. If she wasn’t with the Lords, we knew something had happened to her. This new woman must have taken her place.
“Daught, try to focus on the new female.” Dee encouraged. She wanted to know as much as she could about the female.
“What does she look like?” Ellie asked. She intrigued both Ellie and Dee. I pushed my thoughts to her. I began to pull her closer to my mind. She had long blonde hair that cascaded down her back and descend to her waist in ringlets. Her hair color was just as Ultress’s, and the natural curls were that of Elizabeth’s. The female like Ultress looked different from most immortals. They both held the light blonde hair. She was beautiful. Her skin was pale with bright gray eyes. She had a small frame build, and she was about the same height as Ellie. My mind stopped, and my thoughts went back to her eyes. She had the same eyes as Ellie. They were ice gray. Her eyes were a mirror image of Ellie’s.
Dee looked at Ellie. I read their thoughts, and I knew this female was their mother. Ellie never talked about her mother or father. The Lords forbid them to see their mother after they were adult. Suzi never spoke of her to them. She was their leader, and that was all they needed to know. Their father was extinguished after the lords found Ellie to be different from the other witchyres.
“I don’t understand. She always stayed away from her brothers.” Dee said as she looked at me with indecision.
“What do you mean?” asked Ellie looking in Dee’s direction.
“Ellie, you and our mother are more alike than you realize. She was a rebel in her own rite”. Dee explained as she touched Ellie’s face. She would have been extinguished a long time ago, but the Lords couldn't remove her because she was at the same level of creation as they were. She was never spoken about to them after they took Ellie and her sisters away from her.
“But I don’t understand why they kept us away from her. I thought she left us. I never knew much about her.” Ellie responded with a look of wonder and insecurity on her face.
“All I can tell you is she refused to teach you the way of the witchyres. You were different, and she protected you from them. That's why we were taken away from her.” Dee looked away and became lost in her thoughts.
“So they just took us from her, and she let them?” Ellie cried. I could feel the anger build in her.
“Do you think she had much of a choice?” Dee demanded. She lashed an evil look in Ellie’s direction. Ellie looked stunned.
I realized Dee knew more about why her mother was at the Lord’s castle than she was telling us. She couldn’t quite her thoughts. The Lords needed to understand Ellie’s powers better and her mother knew more about her than Ellie ever realized.
I concentrated harder on the Lords. I had to find out what the conversation was with Ellie’s mother, and why she made them angry. Their anger and frustration were strong. I pulled her in closer. I saw she enjoyed their anger. She was refusing something. I saw her shaking her head as she held her hand up to them. They were trying to get her to tell them about Ellie, but she refused to divulge her daughter’s abilities to them. This pushed their anger further, but she seemed to enjoy their childish fit.
“Dee, what is your mother’s name?” I asked still concentrating on their conversation. Before Dee could answer, Elizabeth walked up and joined the conversation. She spoke.
“Her name is Lauren.” Ellie and Dee lowered their heads as they heard her name. Elizabeth’s thoughts were of a daughter she loved deeply. She was the only one of her children that bore the blonde hair of Ultress. She was the only child she trusted. Lauren was against the annihilation of her parents. She tried to stop their destruction, but she was no match to stand alone against her brothers. She knew her brother’s power. They extinguished her husband for daring to stand against them when they realized Ellie was different. The Lords didn’t want Ellie’s parents to create another like her, so they killed her father. They didn’t realize it wasn’t Ellie’s genetics that made her different, but was a spell cast on her.
“Ellie, your mother was your protector. When the witches cast the spell on you to be different from the other witchyres, they had to leave you with a protector. The witches knew you would be eliminated if the Lords found out you had this spell on you. Lauren is your mother, so she became your protector.” Elizabeth informed and reached to touch Ellie’s face.
“Why have I never known this?” Ellie asked as she looked at her sister and grandmother.
“My sons realized there was a special bond between you and your mother. They didn’t understand this bond, so they removed you from her before you reached adulthood. This was why your memory of her is vague. She has been protecting you through the years, but you never realized she was there.” Elizabeth recanted this story to her. She saw the disbelief in Ellie’s eyes. Ellie thought for years her mother hated her. She thought her mother left her because she was different from other witchyres. She had always believed her mother was ashamed of her.
The witches that came to help with the preparation of the impending war told Elizabeth of her daughter’s existence since the time of their annihilations. The Lords ordered Lauren to remain away from her three daughters. Seeing they couldn’t eliminate her, they used her attraction to Ellie to hold her hostage with the fear they would eliminate her unique daughter. Ellie stayed in her sister’s care until she completed her childhood. The Lords didn’t intend on the older sisters keeping Ellie’s uniqueness from them, but this wasn’t of her sisters own doing. Lauren cast a spell on the older girls to fear the effects of the Lords finding out the differences of Ellie. Suzi and Dee’s crave for power kept them from telling the Lords of their sister’s differences because they knew she would be an outcast, and they would be as well.
“I must find out why she’s with them now.” I told them. Again, I concentrated on my vision. My thoughts pushed toward Lauren. She wasn’t at the Lord’s lair by her own comings. Her brothers summoned her. They demanded her to tell them of Ellie’s powers. However, she didn’t fear them. She knew they couldn’t remove her, and she knew her daughters were no longer in their control. This made the Lords angry. They had never been in the position of not being in control. Lauren’s spell of protection was still enforced, and she refused to release her knowledge of Ellie. This infuriated them, but she didn’t care. She knew Ellie had new protectors. Her mother and father were back, and they wouldn’t let anything happen to Ellie. Lauren taunted them of their reign coming to an end. The harder I concentrated the easier it was to focus on them. I heard their conversation as if I were in the same room as they were.
“Lauren, you must realize your daughters have turned their back on you. No one came to retrieve you. The daughters you protect haven't come to rescue you. They don’t want you.” The older Lord spoke with an evil and vile ridicule that sounded like Lucifer himself.
“Your words have no meaning to me. My daughters are the ones that will be your downfall. You pathetic losers push your fear on others and this has gone on far too long. It’s your time to burn in hell. I need no protection from you,” she lashed at the three and turned her back on them.
“Sister, you are the one that mistakes our abilities. We will stand strong against them. Your brats are no match for us,” the younger of the brothers hissed in her direction. He began to laugh, as did the others.
“It’s not my daughters you should worry your little heads about now. Your father is now walking the earth once more, and you will repent for the
sins you have dealt his people.” She sneered as the lords stopped laughing. She smiled. I could see the fear in the faces of the two younger brothers with the thought of their father lashed by Lauren. The oldest of the three continued to laugh at her insinuation. He would never release his control freely even if the other two feared Ultress. Lauren was somewhat of a hellcat. I could see her likeness in Ellie. I looked at Ellie and knew she read my thoughts and smiled.
“They fear Ultress.” I spoke as I smiled at the others. I felt the excitement build inside me.
“As well as they should, but they will use his compassion against him. He will have to be strong enough to see through their wickedness and know the truth of their ways.” Dee spoke. Her tone was controlled, but I saw the worry in her eyes. She tried not to look in my direction, but I knew her fears. She turned her head toward the water. Elizabeth also knew the meaning of her words. However, she also knew her sister witches were working on a spell to take care of this weakness. She smiled at these thoughts.
“My mother is on our side.” Ellie spoke. She looked deep into my eyes. I knew she felt bewildered, but intrigued.
“Yes, she has always been on your side Ellie.” Dee replied. She reached and touched Ellie’s arm and then pulled her close to her.
“Daught, what about Suzi?” Ellie asked. The intrigued thought turned to worry. I tried to focus on her, but all I could see was darkness. My vision left because there was nothing to focus on anymore. I couldn’t feel her anywhere. I hated to tell Ellie and Dee about her absents, but I couldn’t lie to them. I loved Ellie and I wanted us to be honest with each other.
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